The Crane and The Mockingjay
by GlassDragonflyOfDeath
Summary: Seneca has made a deal with President Snow-his life is spared if he kills the Capitol's number one enemy-Katniss Everdeen. Will he succeed in his task? Or will his secret love for Katniss make him turn against the Capitol? And is Panem really the only country left on Earth? LOTS OF QUESTIONS! Please R&R, I get very lonely...
1. The Hunt

Katniss

It has been three years since the downfall of the Capitol, three and a half since I found what is now my home, District 13, and four since I returned from my first experience of the arena in the 74th Hunger Games.

The forests around here were rich in wildlife to hunt, and even though now I had infinite banquets of food and a life of luxury, old habits die hard, I guess. After a short while of wandering through the trees, I sat on a boulder that was basked in sunlight, there was an opening in the trees so the sun's rays could just get through. It was higher up here, so I could see for miles and miles over the treetops, their green leaves created an emerald blanket over the land. Just as I lifted my bow to carry on hunting, something moved behind me. I moved slowly, trying not to scare whatever it was that was there. I carefully lifted an arrow and placed it against the bow, still with no sudden movements. It was still there, but I was sure it had seen me. I pulled the wire back against my body so I could attack as soon as it came into sight, which, at this rate, didn't seem likely. It took of and ran, I only knew this because of the rusting brambles and plants. I still couldn't see it, so I made my best guess. The arrow flew threw the air, but the head slammed into the muddy soil. This made the animal run again, towards a small, murky pond covered in dying lilly pads and duckweed. I loaded another arrow into the bow and fired in the general direction of my target, but again it only hit the ground. Whatever it was, it was fast.

It wasn't until I had given up that I noticed a trail of footprints in the mud in front of me, and I didn't think they were mine. I stepped beside one of them, leaving a clear footprint in the ground. Just as I'd thought. The other footprint was a fair bit bigger than mine, and the shoe pattern was different. I took sometime to think. Either someone was following me, or the animal that I was chasing was a human. But it couldn't have been someone from District 13, because when we go hunting we have to go together or at least inform anyone else on a hunt that we'll be in the forest too. And even if it was, they would have a weapon, so wouldn't have to run away from me. I know the people of District 13, and not one of them wouldn't stand and fight. I looked back down at the footprint, I had two choices. One, I could follow the trail and find the person, or I could go back to the village and tell Peeta to come and have a look. I took option two, this person wasn't going anywhere. District 13 is only so big, and if they're not local, they won't know their way around the forest. It's like a maze around here, so they'll probably end up back here in a day or two. As I walked back to the village, I kept thinking about that person. Were they injured? Dying? Maybe they were a threat to us, maybe they just needed help. Either way, I needed to find them. My mind had re-thought the idea about telling Peeta about and intruder. Maybe I should just keep this to myself, I mean, if I can win the Hunger Games, I can help someone without anyone else knowing. Can't I?


	2. The Deal

**The Capitol, 4 years earlier**

Seneca

I stared into the bowl in front of me. Once again, Snow had underestimated me. This was getting boring, his tireless attempts to kill me were all the same. I knew this room, and everything in it, it was where Snow had first tried to get rid of me-he called me to this room, where he sat and watched two Peacekeepers slash my throat and hands until they were red with my own blood. I had experience though, he had forgotten that.

Before I was head Gamemaker, I was in Katniss and Peeta's situation-one of the final two tributes in the 65th Hunger Games. The other was Syla, the one who had come with me from my District-District 4. I had always had something for her, but I wasn't sure if she ever noticed me, and here I was, in the arena, about to kill her or kill myself. Unlike Katniss, she didn't hesitate. She ran towards me, pointing her knife at me. I turned and ran, so far that I got lost. Then suddenly, she leaped from behind me and I fell to the ground. She held me down, and prepared to kill me. At the last minute, I grabbed my spear lying beside me and threw it above me. It was only when the cannon was heard did I realise I had killed her.

I hated myself after that. I couldn't get it of my mind that I was a murderer. Suicide was something that I thought about day and night, for once it became entirely plausible that I would end my own life. When I was alone, I would throw myself against the wall and use a bread knife to slit my wrists. I sat on my bed in anger and misery then cry myself to sleep. I lived like this for months, self harm and depression, until I decided I would start again and live in the Capitol. I had the money, and I definitely wasn't welcome in my district. So I rented a flat in the Capitol, and got a job as a Gamemaker. President Snow hated me, because I was a tribute, and a potential threat. He tried to kill me multiple times, but my quick mind and survival skills got me this far, so they wouldn't fail me now.

The door had been locked behind me, but I knew there was a key in here, somewhere. It took me sixteen hours of searching and destruction of a few walls and floorboards to finally find it-a small, brass key hidden behind a panel of the ceiling. Don't ask me how I found it or why it was up there, but anyway, I just hoped it was the right one.

Since the death of Syla, I've always kept a knife with me, small enough to stay hidden, sharp enough to do some decent damage. I knew there would be guards on the other side of the door, if they tried anything, they would be dead. But my prime target was Snow, if he was dead, I was finally free. The key turned in the lock and the door creaked open, no guards here, in fact, there was no-one anywhere along the corridor. I held my knife out, both for defence and a warning I was armed, I didn't want to kill anyone unnecessarily. The lights flickered above my head as I carried on along the corridor, and up the staircase. There were three doors to my left, and four to my right. Living in here for five years had it's advantages, I knew this place inside-out. Around the corner, there were guards everywhere, I knew I was near the President's office, good, because I didn't feel like walking much more. They saw me and just stopped, but not for long. Within ten minutes, two of them were dead, five were half-dead, and three had ran away to get help or to save their lives, probably both. I kicked down the door, for a dramatic entrance, and Snow was sat at his desk, astonished.

"Congratulations, Mr. Crane, you've escaped from a locked room, found a knife and killed two men. What do you expect to do now? Kill me as well?" Snow tried not to seem scared of me, but he didn't do a good job of it.

I held my knife to his neck, "that was my intention."

"And do you realise you will have to kill every guard, every Peacekeeper and every Gamemaker until you can kill me without getting killed yourself? Okay, you will kill me. You and what army?"

"Thirteen Districts of at least a thousand people each."

Snow said nothing.

"You better watch out, or you'll have a second revolution on your hands. And this time, you won't win."

Snow said nothing.

I turned and headed for the door, but Snow stopped me.

"Okay Crane, I'll make you a deal."

"I'm listening."

"I will let you do as you wish, I will let you rule Panem if you want, then you can stop the Hunger Games, and unite the districts or whatever you want to do, if..."

"If?"

"You kill Katniss Everdeen."


	3. The Blackmail

Seneca

"Kill her?" I tightened my grip on the knife in anger.

"That or you can kill yourself."

"You're kidding. I am not killing someone just so you can laugh about it!"

"Do it and your life will be spared

"I am NOT doing it!"

"Enough of this Seneca!" Snow was losing his temper even more now, "I am your leader and you will obey me."

I could hear footsteps behind me, but I didn't turn around. Snow nodded his head and two Peacekeepers grabbed my wrists and held them against the desk so I couldn't attack them, then a third injected a device a bit like the trackers given to tributes into my left arm.

"What is that?" The two Peacekeepers still didn't release their grip.

"A virus."

I felt my body heating up, I'm not sure if that was because of the virus or my anger. I attempted to move my left hand with the knife in it, but the Peacekeeper was too strong.

"It will kill you in four years time, unless Katniss is dead" He stood up and walked out of the room before saying, "good luck."

The peacekeepers released me and I ran down the corridor after Snow, but he was gone. I took some time to think about what has just happened-Snow has just told me to kill Katniss Everdeen, and has just given me for years to live. I looked at my virus-infected arm and wondered what good cutting it off would do. That would be a bad idea and I would like to live my four remaining years with two working arms. At this point, I didn't know what to do, where to go, if anyone could help me.

I spent about three hours just wandering the building with nothing to do, looking at my arm every five seconds. I didn't know whether to get on the train in the morning or to just jump off a balcony. I would probably choose the balcony if I wasn't so tired, so tomorrow I would be on a train to where I would kill Katniss, or so they thought. Maybe I could find a way of escaping the Capitol, and live the remaining four years of my life in peace.

Of course, after all this happened came the third quarter quell, and the second revolution. I spent this time living on the outskirts of the Capitol, with no contact from or with anyone. When I finally heard the news that Snow was dead, freedom was finally mine. But the excruciating pain in my arm reminded me that it wasn't all over, and that my fours years was almost up. There was only one person who could save me now.

Katniss.


	4. The Helicopter

Katniss

Around here, a helicopter could be heard a hundred miles off, but it was only when it came low overhead did I realise it was going to land in our district. It was a yellow helicopter-the colour indicating to us which district it was from. I had never seen a yellow one before, so it couldn't have been from a district and it definitely wasn't from the Capitol. I picked my bow off the ground and ran back to the village to see what was going on.

Of course, it only got weirder from there. No-one in the village knew where this helicopter was from, let alone what it was doing here. Ten armed men pointed their guns at it, threatening to fire, but the helicopter didn't land, it just kept hovering overhead. As I got closer to it, I could see writing on the side, but I couldn't get close enough to read it. Peeta came and stood next to me, watching the helicopter as it hovered above us.

"Where's it from?" I asked him.

"Somewhere outside Panem," he said, "they said it's from somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean."

"I thought we were the only country left after the meteor strike."

"I thought that too, but apparently not."

"How do they know it's from over the Atlantic?"

Peeta pointed to a symbol behind the helicopter's side door. It was a red dot surrounded by a white and then a blue circle, "apparently that's the symbol they put on every military aircraft, but we're not quite sure where it's from or what it means."

I kept watching the helicopter as it hovered above us. It stayed there for about ten minutes before turning and flying back over our heads. As it did, I caught a glimpse of what the writing said:

_Royal Air Force_

I repeated it out loud, "Royal Air Force."

Peeta looked at me, "what?"

"Royal Air Force. That's what it said on the helicopter."

Peeta stared into the sky, watching what was now just a yellow dot in the sky. He repeated what I had just said, thinking about it, "Royal Air Force."

The next day...

I couldn't help but think about that helicopter. All night I had stayed up searching what I had seen written on it, but nothing came up. I probably only got about two hours sleep.

In the morning, I asked Peeta if he had seen anything written on it. In fact, I asked a few people-Gale, Prim, even Buttercup, but none of them had seen anything. In the end, I came to a girl who was about three years younger than me, hearing she had taken a photo of the helicopter on her phone as it hovered in the air. She let me take the phone back to my house and I uploaded it onto my laptop for a closer look.

On the nose of the Helicopter it said, 'RAF Rescue,' which was repeated on the tail. But something that really caught my eye was some numbers that seemed carved into the underside of the helicopter. At first, I thought it might be some sort of reference number, but then I realised it was a date:

_13/05/2012_

A 500 year old helicopter?

I took a break in the forest for a while, trying to get my mind off yesterday. I didn't shoot anything, or even attempt to, I just wandered through the trees for about two hours. Just as I was about to rest on the rock in the sun, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out of my pocket and looked at the screen-Peeta.

"Hello?"

"Katniss," Peeta said "There's some people here about the helicopter yesterday."

"Who?"

"Seneca Crane and a few of his little minions."

"What the hell does he care about a weird helicopter?"

"Ask him yourself, he wants to see you."

"Why me?"

"You have that thing on your laptop, you know, that picture."

There was a long pause.

"Give me five minutes, I'm on the other side of the forest right now."


	5. The Promise

Katniss

Like Peeta had said-he was there. Seneca was waiting for me as I came out from the forest. He looked kind of different from the last time I had seen him, although that was four years ago, and it was only about a year ago I found out he was still alive.

"Katniss," he said. He looked at me with a kind of smirk on his face, which annoyed me a bit.

"Why do you care about a helicopter, Seneca?" It was only then I realised that he was clutching his arm, as if in pain. What do I care? he tried to kill me and Peeta before, so I'm happy if he's not.

"I care because I know where it's from," he held his arm tighter, but didn't show any kind of pain on his face.

I thought for a moment. Can I trust him? I don't see why not. He wasn't one of them any more.

"Follow me," I said, leading him to my house, if you could call it that. He followed me through the door and waited in the living room while I got the picture on the laptop loaded. I brought it into the room before sitting down on the sofa. He sat down next to me and I showed him the picture.

"That's it," I said.

He didn't say anything for a long time, he just stared at the helicopter.

"Zoom in," He said after a while.

I clicked the magnifying glass icon and the picture zoomed into the date on the bottom of the helicopter. Seneca froze.

"Shit," he said.

"What's wrong?"

"They've found us."

"Who?"

"I'll explain later. But whatever you do, do not delete that picture, understand?"

I nodded.

He smiled, "good."

I shut down the laptop and put it back on the desk upstairs. When I came back down Seneca was still on the sofa, but something was wrong. He was holding his arm again, and it looked bright red, as if it was bleeding under the skin.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

He realised I was there and tried to hide it, "nothing."

I sat back down next to him, he didn't move, he just looked at me, and smiled. Before he could move, I grabbed his arm. It wasn't swollen, but it was black and red, it was definitely bleeding. He pulled back his arm and pulled back down his sleeve.

"What was that?" I asked him.

He sighed, "It's a long story."

"I'm listening."

"Well, after the 74th Hunger Games, Snow locked me up in a room and left me to die, but I got out and confronted him. Then he lost his temper and injected me with a virus."

I stood up, I didn't want to catch anything.

He just laughed, "it's okay, it's not contagious."

I sat back down, but further away from him. I still wasn't sure if I could trust him.

"So, what will it do?" I asked.

"Well, he said it would kill me in four years time, which is now."

I stopped. Everything stopped. I was talking to someone who could die at any moment now. Why was Snow such a prick? I could feel tears in my eyes, but I tried my best not to cry. He put his hand on top of mine and smiled.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Fine? You're going to die! How could Snow do that to you? He's such a little bastard I want to shoot him in the face right now!"

"He's already dead," Seneca corrected me.

I couldn't believe he could be so happy knowing he could drop dead any minute now, I knew I wouldn't react in the same way as him. I couldn't think of anything to say, so instead I just hugged him and he hugged me back. I let all the tears in my eyes free and finally found the words to say,

"I'll help you," I said, "I promise."


	6. The Injection

Seneca

Prim ran her finger along the many jars and bottles of various different herbs, poisons and god knows what else. She stopped halfway along the middle row of bottles, and picked up a small blue one with a white label on it. She put it on the table in front of me and went to the other side of the room without a word. She opened a cupboard, looked along it's shelves and picked up a needle. I hate needles.

"What is that?" I asked her.

"Rat poison,"

"What the fuck!?"

She laughed, "you know you're problem, Seneca?" She put the needle on the desk, "you swear too much."

"I don't want you injecting me with rat poison!"

"It was a joke, idiot. Although if I told you what it really was, your reaction would probably be the same."

"Well I want to know what your putting in my body before you do anything."

"It's the only thing that can block the cancer."

"Cancer?"

I knew Snow was bad, but CANCER!?

"Leukaemia to be exact," she said it so calmly I didn't believe her. She put on some rubber gloves and put the needle in the bottle.

"Anyway, you never told me what that stuff is."

"It's wolf DNA."

I stood out of my chair and looked at her in disbelief, "you're crazy! You're going to turning me into a werewolf!"

She sighed and put down the needle, "Look, Seneca. One of the side effects is your DNA may be replaced by the wolf's, which will, in turn, make you one."

This girl was mental! I knew we had found a cure for cancer and all that ages ago, but I didn't think it involved becoming a werewolf! She gave me a look and sighed again.

"You can either die of this disease or you can be injected with this and live."

"-The rest of my life as a wolf."

"Oh for god's sake Seneca grow up! I'm sixteen and you're what? Thirty five? And I would do this!"

"I would rather die!"

But before I could turn and leave, Prim grabbed my arm and injected it with the DNA. I hurt like hell for a bit, but then it just went, along with the black bruising on my arm. Her temper changed and she smiled at me.

"Trust me," she said, "it's for the best."

**I know it's a short chapter, but if it makes you feel better, think of it as half a chapter. I'll write the second half tomorrow. :))**


	7. The Attack

Katniss

It snowed for the first time this year that night. When I went out the following morning to get ready for the hunt, a white blanket of snow covered the ground for miles, littered with only footprints. It was quieter than it had ever been before, no-one was outside, no-one was wandering the streets, no-one was talking in groups by the shops and no-one was running after an escaped chicken or rabbit. I must admit, I quite enjoyed the blank scenery, and just stood there, in the middle of the street, looking around at the rare quietness.

That silence was broken by a ringtone coming from my pocket. I pulled my phone from my pocket and put it next to my ear.

"Hello?" I said into the receiver.

"Katniss?" A voice said back, it was Gale, "where are you?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"I'm with everyone else just off the district border, next to the lake. You better come and see this."

"What is it?"

"Come and see, I can't really explain right now."

"Why not?"

"Katniss, I've got to go, just come, okay?"

"Okay."

What was going on? It sounded serious, and if everyone in the town was there, I better be there too. Of course, it could've been anything. So I decided to get some defence. In our town, we have a shed next to the house after mine, a place where we store weapons and other things like that, just in case we would ever need them. As I walked to it, the fresh snow crunched beneath my feet, my footprints permanent until it snowed or rained again. The door to the shed was stiff with the cold and the fact it hadn't been opened in a while. In the shed, that was only lit by a single bulb that flickered slightly, was an array of weapons, any you could imagine. Guns, dynamite, grenades and a variety of sizes of bullets lined the walls and filled the boxes on the floor until they were almost full. I looked around me, scanning the walls for the perfect gun. My eyes rested on a small-ish handgun, silver but slightly rusted, it looked powerful enough to do some damage. I picked it up and checked the barrel, it was already fully loaded. I grabbed a handful of bullets, two sticks of dynamite, a small bottle of spirit and some matches, stuffed them into my pocket and left for the lake.

As I reached the border, I could see the crowd of people standing in the field, huddled together like penguins, staring into the sky. I could see what they were staring at, it was obvious, and given away by the noise of propellers. You guessed it. The crowd was staring at ten, double propeller, dark green painted, menacing, hovering, intimidating,

Helicopters.

What was these guys' problem? I was sick of helicopters now, and I could see it was the same people as the yellow one as I got closer and saw the flag on their side. As I reached the crowd, Prim, Seneca, Peeta and and Gale were waiting for me.

"What's going on?" I asked them.

"We don't know," Prim said, "They've been there for hours."

I looked back up at the helicopters, they were in a 'V' formation, a bit like geese when they fly in groups, "What's their problem?"

"Ask that," Peeta said, pointing to Seneca, who held up a rifle.

"You didn't did you?"

"They were asking for it!" He said defensively, "I only shot the windscreen."

"That probably killed one of them, idiot," Prim said.

I handed him the dynamite, matches and bottle of spirit, "Well you can use your brilliant skills to finish them off," I smiled, "I'm not doing it."

"Seriously?!" He smiled, grabbing the explosives, "Yes!"

He walked calmly away from the crowd and out onto the open field, directly below the helicopters.

"I would stand back if I were you," he shouted to the crowd, who saw his weapon and obeyed.

He set up the weapon and ran to take cover, shouting his simple but effective battle cry-

"Die mother fuckers!"

That was Seneca alright.


	8. The Wolves

Katniss

The sky exploded above me, pieces of helicopter flew everywhere and hit the ground like knives. A cloud of fire engulfed nine of the fleet, the front one was blown forward but somehow still intact and flying. It showed no mercy and fired straight into the crowd, those who weren't killed fled the scene, running in all directions like a spooked flock of sheep. I saw Peeta and Prim diving under the border and running back to the village. But I couldn't see Gale, he wasn't running with the others, and he wasn't with the group of people hiding down by the lake. I could only hope for the best, but my mind reminded me of the worst. I just stood there, not running like the others, staring at the helicopter. It wasn't that I wasn't scared, or that I was trying to stand up to it, but I just couldn't find the strength to run, not with the thought in my mind that I could be abandoning Gale. Seneca didn't cross my mind, I didn't really need to worry about him. He would probably be with the others, or doing something stupid. Of course, I cared about him, but I didn't think he was in any danger.

I felt like falling to the ground and dying. I couldn't come to believe the fact that Gale might be dead. But a second explosion that blasted me backwards caused me to turn and run. I ran into the safety of the trees and left the battlefield behind, every time my foot hit the ground my breath got shorter, my legs became weaker, and my will became smaller. The only thing that kept me going was the thought that the helicopter could be following me, watching my every move, ready to attack. That was enough to stop me from giving up.

A black shadow sped past me, and then slowed to run by my side. I took a split second to look away from where I was going and at the shadow. It was a jet-black wolf, with thick, ruffled fur and sharp yellow eyes. It looked up at me, but carried on running.

"Katniss," it said, out of breath.

"Seneca?" I recognised his voice as he spoke. I knew that Prim had given him wolf genes to cure his cancer, but I didn't know it would have this much of and effect, "what the hell are you doing?"

"I'll explain later, but right now you've got to trust me."

"Trust you with what?"

"You're going to need to be able to run at my speed."

He leapt into the air and scratched my arm before he hit the ground.

"I'm sorry," he said.

My head started to feel strange, and my legs started to slow down, or that's what it felt like anyway, I wasn't really sure. Suddenly, I felt my body fall, but not hit the ground, as if time had frozen. Then, when I started running again, I noticed the ground seemed closer, that I was running on four feet, and those 'feet' had been replaced by paws, and my skin was covered in soft, white fur.

I was going to get him for this.

I swiped my front paw along the side of his neck, my claws making cuts all the way along his fur, now stained blood red. He fell to the ground in pain, but I didn't stop. I used my newly found strength to grab him by the ruff in my jaw and throw him against a tree. He lay in the leaves for a while, motionless, and for a brief moment I was genuinely worried I had killed him. But my worries were put aside when he stood up, shaking off his attack, and growled at me, baring his teeth and stepping back, either in fear or preparation for attack. We both jumped at the same time, colliding in mid-air, before falling back onto the ground.

"You deserved that," I smirked.

He just looked at me, unsure of whether to reply or to just ignore me.

"Come on," he sighed, "if I can trust you not to attack me again."

I laughed, "I promise."


	9. The Girl

Katniss

For about ten minutes, an awkward silence hung in the air. I tried to find something to start a conversation with, but it was no use. I would look at him every now and again, the scratch went over his eye and down to his lower neck. The blood couldn't be seen too well against his black fur, but it still looked painful. As he walked, he limped on his front paw. It probably wasn't broken, I wasn't that strong, but he might have sprained it.

"You hungry?" He said, but still looking ahead instead of at me.

"A bit, what've you got in mind?"

"You do hunting, right?"

"Yeah," I could see where this was going.

"Well, maybe you could teach me."

"Teach you? You're crazy."

"Come on. Like this we're going to have to find something to eat."

I paused, "fine. But do exactly as I say, okay?"

We went off the track and into a jungle of trees and long grass. It was hard to see, but at least we were well hidden. It was obvious Seneca wasn't used to this-he got hit in the face by a low branch and walked into a tree.

"Stay low," I whispered. I could hear something up ahead, and I didn't want to scare it. I didn't know what it was, but it was small. Rabbit? Or pheasant? I wasn't sure, and we would only find out when we got to it. We lay silent in the grass until we could see our target-a large, brown hare that looked like it had already been injured in an attack.

"Your first lesson," I whispered to him, "rabbit hunting."

"You mean we're going to kill it?"

"No Seneca. We're going to make friends with it and invite it to a party, what the hell do you think?"

He looked unsure, and stared at the hare, "why don't we just eat..." he looked around him frantically for something edible, "...grass?"

"Come on you're a wolf now," I prepared to leap, but didn't take my eyes off the hare, "on my lead...three...two...one...now!"

We broke out simultaneously into a high-speed sprint as we chased the hare, we were behind it, and needed to get beside,or better, in front of it.

"Right," I said, difficult to do when you're running at forty miles an hour, "when I attack, it'll slow it down, then you can get beside it."

"What do I do then?"

"Steer it round, then I can attack."

But just as I was about to jump, a gunshot echoed around the surrounding area, and the hare in front of us fell to the ground, dead. A second gunshot was fired, and the bullet narrowly missed Seneca's head.

"Stay back," I warned him, "and get ready to run."

But it wasn't a gamekeeper, or even someone from the village. A girl, who looked about fourteen or fifteen, emerged from the forest and stood in front of us, aiming the gun at us. She then lowered it and walked towards Seneca, who looked so terrified he could've bolted at any point. She put her arm around his neck and held the gun to his head.

"Why is she with you?"

Seneca spoke quietly, obviously intimidated, "She followed me here."

The girl pulled the gun away from his head and kicked him as she walked away, causing him to fall to the ground, "and I'm not even going to ask why you've suddenly become a werewolf."

"It's a long story."

"Well, I'm listening."

I had to step in, "He was given wolf genes in order to cure his cancer."

"It had cancer?"

"Don't speak to him like that! Who are you anyway?"

She smiled and put the gun into her pocket, then stood back from us, "Ellie Clarke, and I don't see why you're sticking up for him."

"I'm sticking up for him because I care about him!"

She laughed, "He doesn't care about you, he nearly killed you in the Hunger Games."

"How do you now about that?"

"He told me a lot about you, and Peeta, Gale and Prim."

I looked at him, trying to get him to speak. He sighed, and lowered his head.

"Well?" Ellie said, "tell her!"

"Okay, okay. I promised I would help her."

"With what?"

"You know those helicopters?" Ellie said, "they belong to my country."

"What?!" I turned to Seneca, "why would you help them?!"

Seneca didn't reply, he just backed away and lowered his head. I turned back to Ellie.

"Where are you from?"

"Liverpool?"

"Where the hell is that?"

"England."

"Is that your country?"

"Yes."

"And what are you all doing here?"

She paused, "Katniss, what year is it?"

"I don't see what that's got to do with-"

"What year is it?"

"2503."

"Does 2012 hold any significance to you?"

"Not really."

"Have you seen it anywhere?"

I paused in thought. Of course. I had seen it on the first helicopter that passed through here, the yellow one with the date 13/05/2012 written on it. It couldn't be true. There was some sort of mistake.

"You get it now?" Ellie said.

"Panem...what's going on?"

"Somehow, for some reason," she said, "this country has gone 500 years into the future. North America has become Panem overnight."

"But...how?" I knew it was far fetched, but for some reason everything fell into place, it all makes sense.

"I know you won't like this," she said, and pointed to Seneca, "but it's because he's still alive."

* * *

**This is quite a long story, I know, but it'll definitely be finished by Christmas :)) **


	10. The Truth

Seneca

Katniss was pissed off with me for not telling her about Ellie and what I knew about the helicopters, but all I could do was hope it wouldn't be for long. Ellie isn't as hard as she's made out to be, of course she can be a bit intimidating, but there's something about her that she's not telling anyone, something that probably would tell me why she's here, and why she carries a gun around with her everywhere she goes. Before all of this, when I first met her, she seemed to be like one of those elusive new characters in a book that appears out of nowhere and seems to have nothing to do with anything, but as I got to know her, she became part of the bigger picture, and someone I could relate to.

She was in the forest when we met, she seemed very unsure about me and the amount of trust she could afford to give me. She told me she was lost-her jet crashed and she was knocked unconscious, waking up to find her two friends and the pilot dead in the rubble that lay in the middle of nowhere. Before this, she said, she lived in a country on the other side of the ocean, a country I had never heard of. She told me about her home town by the sea, and how she loved it so much. She said that the beaches were beautiful even in a thunderstorm, and in summer they were packed full of both tourists and locals, making the most of what she called 'England's twelve hour summer". She seemed lost in memory of this place and how amazing it was, but soon her description became one of a much darker and negative atmosphere. She told me about something that has stayed fresh in my mind ever since it was said, the fear and anger in her voice made me realise how bad it really was.

"It was Christmas Eve," she said, gazing off into the distance in thought, "the whole town was more outstanding than usual, lit up with fairy lights and Christmas trees, everyone seemed so happy, it was, like every year, one of those days where sadness and worry seemed to be eliminated from everything. It was one of those days where nothing except excitement and happiness mattered. That was, until exactly eight o'clock, when they came."

"Who came?" I asked.

"You," she replied sharply, "your country flew in with their helicopters and fighter jets, blazing through the night sky with that eagle symbol on their sides. They started firing mercilessly at the crowds of people gathered by the sea, destroying lives and burning down houses, sending chaos through the streets. You and your psychotic bastard of a country destroyed everything for us, and all on the perfect day, too. That was how my parents..."

She paused, her eyes filled with tears.

"When was this?" I asked her, "because I don't remember-"

"-You wouldn't, none of you would," she said, "that's the reason for all of this."

This didn't make any sense at all, "what year did it happen?"

"2011-last year."

I shook my head, "no, last year was 2502."

Ellie looked at me, then back at the ground, "I'll explain everything when I'm a bit less emotional," she said, picked up her rucksack and walked away into the trees, but before she went, she said something that, to this day, she has never explained, "and to think we used to be best friends.

After the incident with the hare and meeting her again, Katniss invited Ellie to stay at her place, so she wasn't out on her own through the night. Ellie had reminded her that she'd been out in the woods at night for nearly two weeks now, but still came anyway. On the way back to the village, neither of them spoke a word to me, they walked ahead, talking amongst themselves, occasionally looking back at me and laughing like two twelve year olds. I would try not to look at them, but that was hard when you didn't know when they were going to turn around.

I knew I needed to know what Ellie had to tell me, but something makes me wonder if we're already too late.


End file.
